A Piece of Peace
by didsomeonesayventus
Summary: "Peace had returned to the worlds at last." KH3 ending anyone? Beach parties and feels abound


Waves crashed on the sand. They rolled in time after time and stole away the grains of sand into their foam while adding a few more in their stead. The waves moved exactly as they had always done on the Destiny Islands. Pieces of flotsam had washed up. Unfamilliar and perhaps completely ailen rocks were showing, then bits of metal.

Then a boy washed ashore. And not just any boy, a boy who had already called these shores home for years. Sora groaned a little and sat up, "We... Eh...?"

More people began gliding onto the sand- women, men, young and in early adulthood. Sora blinked, wondering why he was home. He looked over to see Kairi spilled onto the sand. The opposite direction revealed Riku washing up. He looked down the beach to see Lea, Roxas, Xion, Namine, and Isa, then the other to see Terra- even out cold -hugging Ventus like a precious treasure and Aqua splayed nearby and reaching for them.

Sora decided to care to Kairi first, and shook her, "Kai... Kairi,"

Kairi coughed up a little water, and she opened her eyes. She sat up and brushed her hair out of her eyes, "Sora...?"

Sora patted her shoulder with a smile and a nod then went to Riku, "Riku. Riku, come on..." Riku didn't move. Sora shook him harder, "Riku!" After another frightening moment he held his ear to Riku's mouth, then began CPR, "Riku don't do this to me!"

Fortunately it only took a few strong thrusts to get Riku spitting up water, and he groaned, "Sor... Kai..."

Sora laughed in relief, "Good grief! Don't do that Riku!"

Riku brushed his hair out of his face with a sigh, "Oh, so I should stop myself from inhaling water when I'm unconscious?"

Sora nodded and hugged him, "Yes!" He kept laughing, bordering on sobbing, happy Riku had come out completely okay. Riku responded with a gentle pat. Slowly the rest of the beach's residents woke up and began tending to each other. The beach filled with concerned murmurs. After a time it faded, everyone watching the sunset.

Sora fluttered his lips, causing his bangs to flop around, "Well... We did it."

The words rippled. It took minutes to sink in, but then someone whooped. Slowly hands clapped. Cheering went from one end of the beach to the other. They did it. They were all alive and Xehanort's threat was gone.

Kairi hugged Sora and Riku, then backed up, "Hold on, we need to party!"

Sora ran after her with a laugh, "But Kai, how are we gonna explain to our parents that there's suddenly-"

Kairi hopped in her boat with a flutter, "Oh come on, I just swoop in and out, and if anyone asks me I'll say I'm camping out for the night with you two!" When she saw Sora getting into a boat of his own, she yelled, "Hey now you need to stay for damage control! Don't worry I'll be fine getting the stuff on my own!"

Sora climbed back up to the dock, letting out a fluttering sigh of his own, "Okay." He looked down the beach to see Lea talking with Isa- probably letting Isa apologize and making amends between them -while Xion, Namine, and Roxas were discussing something with Riku.

A loud splash called his attention to Ventus, who was laughing and running around in the water without a care. He fell back into the waves with a whoop, then floated up while Terra and Aqua- who were delayed because they were getting their armor off, unlike Ven who charged in with no preparation -swam up to him.

Ventus grabbed them both and dunked them, playfully scooped up water in his mouth and spat it back out, and freely expressed and shared his mirth. After all, a family torn apart for so long, for almost twelve whole years, was finally back together. It didn't take long for the three of them to get completely soaked. It took even less time for their mouths to get sore from smiling.

Ventus got up behind Terra, "Terra! Terra put me up on your shoulders!"

Terra laughed and obliged, "Sure thing Ven!" However, soon after forming their own little lookout between them Terra lost his balance and they fell into the water with Aqua roaring with delight.

She helped her boys up, "You're being so silly-" she shrieked when Ventus launched a splashing attack that rendered her blind, and then fell back into the waves with another cry when Terra pushed her into an oncoming wave. She surfaced with a gasping laugh, "Oh you two!" She leapt at them while Ventus fled for shore and Terra swam out to sea.

"Sora! Hey Sora! I got a lot of stuff!"

Sora's attention was snapped from the reunion to see Kairi carting a boat full of party supplies. Torches, some firewood, tons of flowers, blankets and pillows a few tents... She even had snacks, not limited to chocolate, gram crackers, and marshmallows for s'mores. Riku pulled up to Sora at the dock, "Jeez Kai did you think someone was underfed?"

Kairi tied up the boat with a smile to Sora, "Adjusted the length of the camping trip."

Riku looked at Sora, who was growing red, "Kairi!"

Kairi only got out of the boat with a confident swagger with armfuls of flowers and kissed Sora's cheek, "Love you, too, dork."

She waltzed over to their Paopu tree and smiled at the people already underway with merriment. She had to giggle at how Ventus was passed out like a drunkard in the shallows between land and sea with Terra and Aqua hovering on the wet sand next to him and catching up with the years.

Kairi then plopped down on the tree and began weaving flower leis, and the moment Sora caught up to her she threw one on his head. She meant his neck, but his hair had other plans. She bit her lips, "Uhhhh..."

Sora was delicately trying to pull the flowers over his hair, but soon gave up with a weak chuckle, "Um, yeah..." Kairi giggled. She then handed one to Riku, who then quietly turned the lei into a crown with a few twists in the loop so Sora wouldn't feel left out. Sora and Kairi sniggered at the sight, but Riku took it in stride with a small, content look.

He hen said, "You know, given the crowd you're with you might just wanna save flowers by just making crowns. Don't bother with the necklaces."

Kairi laughed, "Alright then, princess Riku!"

Riku's eyes snapped open into a glare in an instant, "That's where I draw the line." He directed the glare at Sora when it seemed he would make a similar comment. Sora's grin became sheepish.

And soon Sora's grin was gone, replaced with Roxas grabbing Sora and excitedly yelling, "Hey! Hey this is the beach you grew up on, right?!" Sora had no time to respond before Roxas's attention went to the tree behind him, "OOOH! This tree is so perfect!" He pouted in a musing way, "The World That Never Was and Twilight Town didn't have too many trees like this." He let Sora go and began pushing against the smooth bark, "But man how did you find such a good tree?! I thought only Never Land had ones like this, and even then they were so straight!"

Sora looked confused at Roxas's optimistic and enthusiastic turn, but replied with a laugh anyways, "Uh... It was kinda just here."

Roxas climbed on top of it like a five year old, "Man, you grew up with this?!" Sora nodded. Riku did too, but it looked like he was restraining his laughter. He never thought he'd see Roxas so happy or excited.

Kairi threw a lei on him, but like Sora it settled in his hair, "Here ya go."

Roxas pulled it off, grinned even wider, then out it on and yelled, "HEY AXEL! XION! NAMINE! KAIRI'S GOT FLOWERS!" He bounced right off the tree and began dragging Sora around and asking questions about the beach or babbling his own bemused or amusingly ill informed opinions.

After a short time Axel (who had long ago decided to stick with that name if everyone had indeed gotten that one memorized) came over with a simple translation: "I think Roxas wants to hang out here for a bit, mind if we take over?" His posse- consisting of Xion, Namine, and Isa -nodded.

Kairi got off, "Sure, not like it's ours anyways."

Riku held out his hand, "It's yours."

Kairi ended up handing out another set of leis, which once again ended up as crowns to Kairi's continuing annoyance, "_Ugh!_ I'm even making them bigger around!"

Roxas let Sora go when he realized that Axel had taken over the perfect little spot, and to no one's surprise he pulled sea salt ice cream out of the same hammerspace realm that the Keyblade usually dominated.

Axel bit down on the salty sweet treat, "Remind me, how did you find that out?"

Roxas was already half done with one stick, "Perseverance and negotiating with a semi-sentient hunk of metal." Xion and Namine giggled, leading Roxas to suddenly get a red and perplexed face.

Sora walked by, but not without noticing Isa's flinch. He turned to the man, "Hey now, we're good." Isa seemed confused by the comment until Sora held out his hand, "Sure, you nearly killed me," Sora smiled, but it was forced and obvious he was starting to feel awkward when he began rubbing his neck with his free hand, "I pretty much killed you about once- no accounting for evil old men... But hey, that's in the past. You've made up for it, and from what I hear from Lea and Ven you weren't always that much of a jerk."

Isa eyed Sora's hand reproachfully, "And you're saying...?"

"We're good, Isa. I'm willing to let bygones be bygones." Sora's smile returned in full, enthusiastic glory.

Isa got up and went over to Roxas, asking for an ice cream and leaving Sora's hand in empty air. Sora pulled it back with a lightly offended look, "Jeez, I'm offering forgiveness and redemption on a silver platter here, what's up with him?"

Riku shrugged, imparting his own words of wisdom and experience, "Sometimes... Not that easy."

Kairi waved them over, "Well, come on, we gotta fix up the rest of it!"

"The rest of what?" Sora and Riku asked together.

Kairi bounced along backwards in the sand, "The party! Duh!"

Riku looked at Sora, who sighed and covered his exasperated smile, "Yeesh, no need to go so overboard with it..." Riku heard a soft cough and turned to see Aqua. She coughed again, getting Sora's attention. Sora nodded to her in respect, "Whatchya need?"

"About what's gone on all these years..." Aqua said as she turned to the sunset, "It hasn't been without losses."

Sora nodded, "Yeah. We had to really struggle to get Isa and Xion back, and I can't imagine all the others that have been lost because of his actions..."

Aqua fiddled with her fingers, "I know at least one. So does Terra, but we..." She watched Terra ruffling Ven's hair while the boy slept. Again. You figured over a decade of napping would make him less prone to being the sleepyhead he naturally was. She sighed, "I don't think he quite understands about Master Eraqus."

Sora's interest was piqued, "I don't think I got the memo either, what's up?" Riku elbowed him, prompting him to yell, "HEY!"

Aqua giggled, but then explained more somberly, "You see, for a long time I thought he was dead. It turns out his heart had been within Terra's all this time, but..." She hesitated again as tears welled in her eyes, "He made the decision to move on."

Sora frowned; the joy that had fluctuated in this evening went surging out just as fast, "Aw. I'm sorry."

Riku hugged her for a moment, "We all have to at some point."

Aqua nodded when Riku backed away. She grabbed her sleeves and dabbed at her eyes, "A-anyway, what I want to say is... Could we do something to memorialize the ones we've lost?"

Sora grinned as he was more than happy to oblige to the request, "Sure thing!" He held his hand to chin, "Hmmmm, what should we d-" he snapped his fingers, "Ah ha!" He ran down the shore, "Riku! Come on, we got a raft to build!"

...

The sun had dipped low on the horizon, and night was creeping in. Kairi huffed by the fire pit she had set up, "Where are they? I asked them to help."

"Well we helped you." Namine pointed out.

Xion nodded in agreement, "Who needs boys when we can get it done so much better?"

Too busy with their chatting about boys, the girls failed to notice Sora and Riku creeping in the deeper shadows and silently slipping into the water with some sort of craft. It was small, probably only big enough to really sail a child far younger than anyone who was present. It had a small doll on it that vaguely resembled Xehanort, except it was the younger, less corrupted young man before he began diving into things better left alone.

Sora stopped about knee-deep into the surf, "Ya ready Riku?"

Riku nodded, but voiced a small concern, "Is it light enough for them to-"

"We can make lights if necessary." Sora cut him off. He then saw sparks in Kairi's direction- apparently she was starting up the fire. Sora abandoned stealth, running through the water and yelling, "HEY, Kairi! Don't start that yet!"

Kairi put her hands on her hips, "Well there you are lazy!"

Sora only laughed and helped her up, "Hey, I was working!" He then clapped his hands, "Hey! Come on everyone I got something to do!" He guided everyone to where Riku was keeping their little craft afloat, and began explaining.

"A long time ago, heck, before I was born, really, was when this all started. We won today-" Sora paused as cheering surged up again, "But we've also lost. We've lost people dear to us over this..." He trailed off, "Uh, Hm what could this be called..." He thought a moment before resuming, "This saga of one man seeking the darkness by any means," he gestured to the little Xehanort doll, "even if it made him discard his humanity."

Terra was giving him a bit of a look, along with several other people, because of the implications of what he said. He was showing sympathy for this monster? Sora began another explanation, "Yes, I really do believe that somewhere, somewhen, Xehanort wasn't entirely evil. He was cruel, and wicked, and completely heartless to a lot of people here, including myself, but we met him far into his lifetime." Sora threw his hand to the island behind them, "I don't think that a haven like this would create someone like that early on. Somewhere along the line was when he turned into the man we feared and defeated, but once upon a time..."

Sora suddenly became extremely quiet and somber, "Once upon a time, that man may have been a boy like me."

After a moment to let it sink in, Sora gestured back to the boat in Riku's hands, "So, me and Riku made this. It's dedicated to people, ideas, dreams, personalities, innocence, anything that we've lost because of these events and catastrophes."

Everyone had a shift in mood; the hesitation and drips of outraged confusion became impressed surprise. Sora certainly had a wisdom few ever really had at such a young age. Sora pulled out a small pocket knife and went over to the small raft, "So," He blinked a little in the dying light, trying to see what he was doing, "what we're all gonna do is carve in what things we lost- even if we got them back."

He carefully carved in the letters 'D-e-s', "If we lost something over these years, regardless of retrieval we're gonna put it in anyways. Because we want to think about what we got while we have it now. We might not have it tomorrow."

'Destiny' formed, "We want to remember what we've lost, but be able to move on from it to find something to fix up the hole it's made in our heart."

'Destiny Islands' appeared, and then Sora made quick work cutting out Kairi and Riku's names, "Whether it be love, something else, or maybe it just fixes itself after accepting it's gone."

He added in a picture of his heart, broken into pieces but obviously still whole and hearty. He backed up and held the knife out to his friends, "Who's next? You don't need to put a lot, at least one thing."

Riku tapped Sora's shoulder and Sora handed the knife to Riku. Soon it was too dark to see without the danger of cutting themselves, so Sora popped up a light for everyone to see by. Everyone added something, and the raft filled with each of their names and others. It filled with homes, things, dreams, everything Sora suggested appeared and were carved into the wood.

When all were finished, Sora sparked a flame in his hands. He held it up for all to see, "Now what we're gonna do is light it up and send it out." There was slight surprise, but Sora once again explained his reasoning, "We're letting it all go. If it's still gone and won't come back, then yeah, it won't come back. If we regained what we lost, we can let the fear of losing it again burn away."

He then held the flame out to Isa and Xion, "I think the ones we almost couldn't save should do the honors."

They were both completely stunned. Xion didn't think anyone would let her do something this special, and Isa was yet again surprised and off put at how forgiving Sora was. Xion accepted the flame, and it passed easily between its bearers, but Isa merely stared at Sora, "Why?"

Sora's answer was simple, "I already explained, but you got another reason: it's time to let all that guilt go."

Xion held the flame to him with an astonished giggle, "It's magic, and won't burn you." Isa looked at Xion like he couldn't bear seeing her happy. Like seeing her like this only reminded him of the pain he put her through. Xion smiled, "Hey, I forgive you. I can tell that you're really good at heart."

Isa wiped at his eyes, "I-I think some seawater splashed in my face..."

Xion laughed again, then carefully laced part of the flame in Isa's hands, "Well then. Don't get this too wet." And with those words Xion guided Isa to the boat, and they both lit it up. The flames transferred from their hands to the wood, and it went up easily. Just as Riku let it go, Sora sloughed over and grabbed a burning piece of the ship and began heading back.

He waited on shore as everyone watched the flame become a speck of dying embers among the stars, then lit the fire pit, "And with this, we can say that the things we lost won't ever leave our memory or our hearts."

Everyone gathered around the fire to dry off, feeling much happier. The weight of worlds had been taken off their shoulders. Kairi, after a moment to let everyone wind down from such a somber event, pulled out chocolate, marshmallows, and gram crackers, "Hey! Who wants s'mores?!"

Everyone who knew what s'mores were scrambled for the supplies in approval. Roxas stared at the treats with question, "Those look so _messy_ though."

"That's part of the fun!" Sora said as he took a bite. He had a little difficulty adding, "They're _delicious_ Roxas, you should try one!"

Xion carefully bit into the gooey sweetness, and soon after shrieked with delight, "Oh! They're like sea salt ice cream except there's no salt" she wiped up some chocolate at the corner of her mouth, "And there's this other flavor... Mmmmm."

Roxas hesitantly accepted one while Xion began making another, and soon joined in with her enthusiasm. To no one's surprise Ventus scarfed down s'more after s'more, and eventually his mouth was a chocolate marshmallow mess. Some bits of goop got in his hair, annoyingly enough for others but not for him. Aqua spent probably too much effort and time in trying to convince Terra- who had no sweet tooth whatsoever -to try one out of courtesy.

And after the fire died down, everyone leaned back into the sand, tangled among themselves and blankets, and began exchanging stories and constellations. Myth after myth came up, about swans and heroes and fishhooks and monsters, and there were probably countless more in store, but Sora pointed out one star being a specific world and soon it dissolved into charting the worlds across the sky with commentary and more personal tales.

Sora was a practical field guide of the night sky, and managed to identify the most worlds and Riku managed to spur up the most intriguing stories out of everyone. Axel was a great storyteller himself, if given the right inspiration, and Terra relayed myths and legends that had been lost to the sands of time as Keyblade orders of old dwindled to just him, Ven, and Aqua. Roxas, Xion, and Namine didn't know much, and thus were excellent listeners and asked questions that lead to refreshing detail. Kairi was a very humorous commentator, especially concerning any story by her boys. It often involved someone growing embarrassed while laughter sparkled up to its starry brethren, but no hard feelings were ever felt between anyone.

And one by one everyone fell asleep to he sounds of waves with hearts as light as the sky above them.

Peace had come to the worlds at last.

* * *

If KH3 doesn't end similar to this I am gonna be very disappointed.


End file.
